The present invention relates to tele-communication.
Computerized telephony provides integrated e-mail, voice messages, phone calls and faxes in all-digital form. Such systems can provide functionality such as interactive voice response, call tracking, transaction histories, unique call ID""s, and much more. For a detailed description of a computerized telephony product, refer to the Internet site of brite.com.
One drawback of computerized telephony systems is that a mobile subscriber dialing in to his voice response system is limited in what functions he can perform in response to input he receives. The mobile subscriber can only carry out a fixed set of actions that have been pre-programmed into the voice response system, and as such his ability to reply to incoming messages is restricted. For example, he may only be able to reply to conventional voice mail by dictation into the voice response system.
The present invention provides a method for a mobile subscriber to access his e-mail by dialing in to an interactive voice response system, and to reply to his e-mail by pressing one or more keys on his telephone. It also provides a means whereby a subscriber is notified in advance whenever e-mail arrives at the interactive voice response system. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention uses a special type of e-mail, referred to below as an interactive message (IM) since it provides the capability for its recipient to reply by pressing keys on a telephone pad.
The present invention also provides a method and system for creating interactive messages and for transmitting them to an interactive voice response system.
The interactive message of the present invention preferably includes three parts: a message, a menu and header fields with parameters. In one embodiment of the present invention the message is a text message. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention the message is an audio file. The menu contains an indexed list of replies that a subscriber can select from by indicating the index number of a desired reply. The voice response system reads the replies to the listening subscriber who has dialed in, and in turn the subscriber selects one of the replies by pressing on one or more keys on the telephone. The selected reply is then formatted as an e-mail message, and sent back to the original sender.
The present invention offers mobile subscribers the opportunity to receive e-mail and respond, without being connected to the Internet, and without having to call up the sender. Using the present invention, a remote subscriber can dial up his voice response system using a cellular or conventional telephone, after being notified of an arriving e-mail, he can listen to the e-mail and he can send back a reply e-mail. He can also instruct the voice response system to perform specific actions in response to the e-mail, such as faxing back a reply, requesting information or making a transaction.
Whereas prior art voice response systems only provide a fixed set of pre-programmed reply actions, the present invention enables a creator of an IM to customize his own set of reply action alternatives on an individual message-by-message basis. The receiver of such an IM need only press on one or more keys of his telephone to select one of the reply action alternatives and initiate the action. In broad terms, prior art voice response systems only provide a preprogrammed fixed set of possible reply actions, this set thus being system-specific. The voice response system of the present invention provides for a message-specific set of possible reply actions, this set being customizeable for each individual message.
The present invention also enables generation of dynamic menus within an IM. For example, an interactive voice response system can generate a menu based on a subscriber""s userid. The userid can be used to indicate a category to which the subscriber belongs (such as xe2x80x9cplatinum cardholder,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cgold cardholderxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cstandard cardholderxe2x80x9d), and the menu presented to the subscriber upon dial-up to the voice response system can be generated dynamically for that category. This provides for different sets of possible reply actions for different categories of subscribers. Generation of interactive messages with dynamic menus can be carried out by the interactive voice response system itself.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for interactive message communication, including the steps of receiving a marked up e-mail by an interactive voice response system, the marked up e-mail containing a menu, converting the menu from text to speech, producing a speech menu, reading the speech menu from the interactive voice response system to a telephone unit, and transmitting a response to the marked up e-mail based on the speech menu.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for interactive message communication, including the steps of monitoring an e-mail server for the presence of marked up e-mail, downloading marked up e-mail from the e-mail server to an e-mail client within an interactive voice response system after the monitoring step indicates its presence at the e-mail server, sending by the interactive voice response system a notification to a subscriber of the presence of marked up e-mail at the interactive voice response system, calling by the subscriber from a telephone unit to the interactive voice response system to retrieve at least one marked up e-mail, and replying to the retrieved at least one marked up e-mail by the telephone unit.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for interactive message communication, including the steps of creating a marked up e-mail including header fields and parameters, and a menu, and transmitting the marked up e-mail to an interactive voice response system.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for interactive message communication, including the steps of creating a marked up e-mail including a menu, transmitting the marked up e-mail to an interactive voice response system, converting the menu from text to speech, producing a speech menu, reading the speech menu from the interactive voice response system to a telephone unit, and transmitting a response to the marked up e-mail based on the speech menu.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for interactive voice response including the steps of detecting the arrival of marked up e-mail, receiving the marked up e-mail, parsing the marked up e-mail, deriving voice menus based on the marked up e-mail, transmitting the voice menus, and interpreting telephone tones in response to the voice menus.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an interactive message communication system, including an interactive voice response system receiving a marked up e-mail, the marked up e-mail containing a menu, and reading a speech menu to a telephone unit, a text-to-speech converter converting the menu from text to speech, producing a speech menu, and a telephone unit receiving the speech menu, and transmitting to the interactive voice response system a response to the marked up e-mail based on the speech menu.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an interactive message communication system including an event engine monitoring an e-mail server for the presence of marked up e-mail, an interactive voice response system containing an e-mail client and downloading marked up e-mail from the e-mail server to the e-mail client after the event engine indicates its presence at the e-mail server, and sending a notification to a subscriber of the presence of marked up e-mail, and a telephone unit calling the interactive voice response system to retrieve at least one marked up e-mail, and replying to the retrieved at least one marked up e-mail.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an interactive message communication system, including a mail creation tool creating a marked up e-mail including header fields and parameters, and a menu, and a transmitter transmitting the marked up e-mail to an interactive voice response system.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an interactive message communication system, including a mail creation tool creating a marked up e-mail including a menu, an interactive voice response system receiving a marked up e-mail, and transmitting a speech menu to a telephone unit, a text-to-speech converter converting the menu from text to speech, producing a speech menu, and a telephone unit receiving the speech menu, and transmitting to the interactive voice response system a response to the marked up e-mail based on the speech menu.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an interactive voice response system including an event engine for detecting arriving marked e-mail, an e-mail client for receiving marked up e-mail, a mail interpreter for parsing marked up e-mail, a programming engine for programming voice menus based on the marked up e-mail, and an tone interpreter for interpreting telephone tones in response to the voice menus.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an interactive message including a marked up language version including a menu, and header fields and parameters.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for handling an interactive message containing a marked up language version and a natural language version, including dispatching the marked up language version as a MIME attachment and dispatching the natural language version as an SMTP-compliant e-mail.